Accompanying Ramadan 17: Now with David

David - Dâwûd

Bible

The story of David is given in the books of Samuel: his anointing (1 Samuel 16), his killing of Goliath (1 Samuel17), his marriage to the daughter of Saul (1 Samuel 18), his taking Bathsheba as his wife (2 Samuel 11) and his being rebuked by the prophet Nathan (2 Samuel 121-23).

The praise of David is celebrated in Ecclesiasticus 47:2-13.

NT

Matthew begins his Gospel with the following words:

            A genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham (Mt 1:1).

He then, naturally, mentions David in the list of ancestors of Jesus:

            Jesse was the father of King David,

            David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife (Mt 1:6).

See also Mt 1:17.

Matthew relates the dream in which the Lord addresses “Joseph son of David” (Mt 1:20).

The evangelist Luke mentions that Mary, the future mother of Jesus, was ‘betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David” (Lk 1:27). The angel Gabriel tells Mary that she will bear a son who will be given “the throne of his ancestor David” (Lk 1:32).

Luke, in his genealogy of Jesus, mentions David (Lk 3:32) without any particular emphasis.

In his prophetic prayer, known to us as ‘The Benedictus”, Zechariah speaks about the power for salvation God has raised up “in the House of his servant David” (Lk 1:69).

In the account of Pentecost given in the Acts of the Apostles, Peter refers to David, quoting Psalm 16(15) and concluding from it:

Brothers, no one can deny that the patriarch David himself is dead and buried: his tomb is still with us. But since he was a prophet, and knew that God had sworn him an oath to make one of his descendants succeed him on the throne, what he foresaw and spoke about was the resurrection of Christ (Acts 2:29-31; see the whole passage (Acts 2:14-36).

Qur’an

David killing Goliath is told in the Qur’an succinctly, without the details:

David killed Goliath (Jâlût), and God gave him sovereignty and wisdom and taught him what he pleased (Q. 2:251).

Among the things that God taught him was to praise God through the Psalms, for the Qur’an says:

We have sent revelation to you [Muhammad], as We did to Noah an the prophets after him, to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, to Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron and Solomon – to David we gave the book of Psalms (zabûr) (Q 4:163).

David is a man of prayer:

Remember our servant David, a man of strength who always turned to Us: We made the mountains join him in glorifying Us at sunset and sunrise; and the birds too, in flocks, all echoed his praise (Q 38:17-19).

There is a reference to the story Nathan told to David, without mention of the name of the prophet:

Have you heard the story of the two litigants who climbed into his private quarters? When they reached David , he took fright, but they said, ’Do not be afraid. We are two litigants , one of whom has wronged the other: judge between us fairly – do not be unjust – and guide us to the right path. This is my brother. He had ninety-nine ewes and I just the one, and he said, let me take charge of her, and overpowered me with his words. David said. “He has done wrong by demanding to add your ewe to his flock.”…

[Then] David realized that We had been testing him, so he asked his Lord for forgiveness, fell down on his knees, and repented (Q 38:21-24).

The translator says in note: “This [the test] is said to be an allusion to David’s acquisition of another man’s wife to add to his own numerous wives.

            Although the passages in the Qur’an which mention David are limited, he remains an important figure in Islam on account of having been given Scripture in the form of the Psalms (zabûr). He thus is part of the class of prophets who have been given Scripture, namely:

Abraham - ṣuhuf (literally “scrolls”) (cf. Q 53:36-37; 87:18-19).

Moses -     tawrât  (cf. Q 3:3, 65, 93)

David -      zabûr   (cf.Q 4:163)

Jesus -       injîl      (cf. Q 3:3; 5:46-47)

Muhammad – qur’ân (cf. Q 26:192-193; 42:7).

According to Islamic tradition, there is “The Word of God, the mother-scripture (umm al-kitâb, cf. Q 3:7; 13:39; 43:4), preserved eternally on the ‘tablet preserved’ (al-lawḥ al-maḥfûz cf. Q 85:22). This primordial scripture is revealed (‘sent down’) successively over the course of time to a number of great prophets, Moses, David, Jesus and Muhammad.” (R.CASPAR, Islamic Theology II Doctrines, Rome Pontifical Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies 2007, p.104)